I woke early today and after showering and having breakfast I got ready for a day exploring Sydney.
Our tour director, Brian had said that he would take the people who were going to tour inside the Sydney Opera House on a walk through Sydney and down to it. He said that anyone else that wanted to go was welcome to join them on the walk. As I had no plans for myself, I joined the walk to the Opera House.
Walk to the Sydney Opera House.
The walk through Sydney was great and we walked through Hyde Park, which was beautiful, I liked the fountains there. When we left the fountains and continued our walk, we passed the Anzac Memorial, behind the Pool of Reflection, stopping for more photos and a look at the monument.
My legs were suffering by the time we got to the Sydney Opera House, and I was glad of the rest when we got there, our root had been surprisingly hilly and brisk. Unlike many of the people on the tour with me I wasn't going on the guided tour inside. The reviews I had read and people I knew had said it wasn't worth the money and I saved my money for something else.
I walked around the outside of the building with Kari and Leon, stopping for many photos of the building and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which more of the people from my tour, had paid to climb. After reading the health warnings about the climb I decided I would not pass the medical exam or be able to make the climb so hadn't booked that either. At one point on my walk round the Opera House, I saw a seal sitting on some steps going down to the harbour. I tried to take a photo but couldn't get a good one because the area was fenced off to protect the seal. Apparently, the seal had been injured and was resting there and marine mammalogists were keeping a watch on it in case it needed any more help.
After my walk, I did go inside the Sydney Opera House with Kari and Leon. We went inside the lobby and looked around the small shop, but I have to say from what we did see I was glad I hadn't paid for a tour. I could honestly say that I have been inside the Sydney opera House though. I left Kari and Leon as they went for a walk elsewhere and I sat on the harbour wall chatting with some ladies from America on the cruise ship seen behind me, docked in the harbour.
Manly Trip.
When the people that had done the tour of the Opera House had finished we all met outside. Many of the people were continuing to explore Sydney but Christine and Tim said they would come with me on the ferry to Manly so that we could explore Manly and the beaches there.
As we walked towards the ferry terminal, I stopped at a restaurant that my friend Mick Whiles had given me a voucher for. It was for a free meal. He had two of them but wasn't sure if they had been used by his daughter who lived there. Tim and Christine and I would have stopped for something to eat there but the man at the entrance checked the voucher and after spending a long time looking for the voucher number, he said it had already been redeemed so we walked on to the ferry terminal.
The three of us purchased our tickets and were soon sat on the ferry for our trip across to Manly. The ferry ride was pleasant, and we had great views of a different part of the harbour to what we had seen on our harbour tour. When we docked Manly Wharf, we could see a beautiful beach and went for a walk to it. The sand at Manly Cove felt good on my feet after taking off my compression stockings and had gone for a paddle, inside the shark nets, just to be safe.
After we had our paddle and spoken to a couple of locals about the nets we walked to a restaurant, Bettys Burgers, at the ferry pontoon and sat outside for lunch. I had a fried collection of foods, including fish, shellfish, squid and chips. It was quite nice but some of it was over cooked. I hadn't realised but as I was telling Chris some of my meal. the squid, had been overcooked, the manager had been stood behind me. With out saying anything he came over to me and gave me an extra freshly cooked portion of squid rings and apologised that the original ones were overcooked.
When we had all finished, we decided to walk down a street opposite Manly Wharf, towards Manly Beach Cove. We walked for around 10 minutes till we reached the beach, which was packed. Ther Manly Triathlon contest was taking place on the beach, and the beach area was buzzing with bronzed, fit men and women, either taking part in the contest, or just showing off their bodies. We had missed the time to register to take part in the contest, so we sat and watched some of the heats going on. They were swimming out around markers then when they got back, picking up a canoe and canoeing round them before doing it again on a body board. I was exhausted just watching them.
When we left and walked back up the road we had walked earlier, I stopped and bought myself a sun hat and some medical scissors so that I could cut any bandages or tape when I had to remake the dressing on my leg.
When we had all finished our own shopping we walked back to Manly Wharf, got the ferry back to Sydney Harbour and we all agreed that the walk back to the hotel was too much for our aching legs and we got a bus back from the bus stop at the ferry terminal. Once back at the hotel I went back to my room and was quickly fast asleep again and slept the whole night through.
Add comment